


Directorate Meeting

by Ohms_Law



Series: COVER AU [2]
Category: Hololive, Virtual Streamer Animated Characters
Genre: AU, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Paramilitary AU, What even is a beta?, secret agent AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-16 03:01:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29569284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ohms_Law/pseuds/Ohms_Law
Summary: COVER deals with the fallout of Amelia's disastrous last mission.
Series: COVER AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2172159
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31





	Directorate Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> It's also in the tags, but just for safety I'll put it here to. This story contains an instance of suicide. It is only a background detail, but it's there in the second to last paragraph.

COVER really shouldn't work.

An unregulated, international paramilitary organization funded by an anonymous billionaire ought to have been shut down. But for whatever reason, it wasn't, and they were making the world a better place. Usually. More often than not. 

The aforementioned billionaire went by the pseudonym Yagoo. Bizarrely enough, he'd apparently set out to form an idol group. However, as he was recruiting people, he'd realized the people he was finding were so extraordinary that he could do immense good around the world. Yagoo still paid lip service to the idea he had an idol group, but by this point, almost everyone had accepted COVER was a specialized peacekeeping force with an oddly large number of talented singers.

The recruits broadly fell into two categories. The first was people so powerful and competent they could serve as single-unit operatives, completing tasks no one else could. The second was people so dangerous they needed to be directed towards, if not good, then at least wherever they'd do the least damage. Unfortunately, Yagoo found far more of the latter than the former. 

COVER would just be a bunch of reckless fools if not for the delicate, rational board overseeing it. This board consisted of A-chan and A-chan alone; putting anyone else in charge was a calamity waiting to happen. She did, however, delegate some of her tasks to other members to lighten her load. 

At the moment, A-chan was rushing to a meeting of those delegates. She knew she was late, but they never arrived on time themselves anyway, so she was safe. As she stepped into the meeting room, she brushed the wrinkles out of her navy pantsuit. The room was so stereotypical it bordered on parody. There was a large circular table with rolling chairs arranged around it. To her left, A-chan could see a window taking the place of a wall. Most people seemed to enjoy the view from 12 stories up, but A-chan found it disconcerting. She took her seat at the far end of the table and took in her colleagues. All five of them. 

Damn.

"Sorry, something came up suddenly. It's taken care of now, so we can move forward with what we're all here for." A-chan could see that no one else believed her, but mercifully, none of them called her out on it. She picked up the tablet in front of her and looked for the relevant files. Fortunately, it synced with her pc, so everything was immediately there. Small mercies and all that. 

If the meeting room looked like a parody, then the people she was seated with pushed it into absurdist comedy. The other members of her team were all looking at tablets of their own. The contents had just been forwarded to them, so it was unlikely any of them were finished reading. Seated in front of her were two animals, a dragon, a robot, and whatever the hell Aki was. One day A-chan would find someone who was just a normal person. She'd thought she had one, but that had fallen apart. Speaking of which.

"Is there any news on Haato's whereabouts?" 

The director of agent management shook her head, fox ears flapping back and forth with the motion.

"She's still missing. Sora is looking, but Haato could be anywhere. Who knows if Haato is even there anymore?"

A-chan nodded solemnly. She hadn't honestly expected anything tangible so quickly. Sora was a miracle-worker, but even she had limits. The real reason she'd asked the question was to get Fubuki at the center of attention. 

"That's quite unfortunate. Before we move onto the main topic, there is something I think you could help me with." The fox ears perked up. "Why exactly was Ms. Watson on this mission? A mission which I didn't even know about?" And down the ears went.

A-chan glared at the fox, keeping eye-contact. Shirakami Fubuki was undeniably excellent at her job. A-chan had never met someone who could so easily identify a person's strengths and weaknesses. Fubuki was in charge of placing agents with their handlers and she had an incredible track record: no one else had thought putting Pekora in the field was a good idea, but Fubuki had insisted. Not two weeks later, Pekora had been instrumental in disarming a bomb set to destroy the Nagpur Metro in India. Granted, Pekora did disarm it via a second explosion, but the damage was much more contained than it might have been.

Since Fubuki had been so reliable in the past, A-chan would usually let this slide. However, when agents come as close to death as Watson did, something had to be done. 

"Watson," A-chan continued, "is a bruiser. If the job was to kill something, I'd understand. If you wanted something stolen, I'd understand. Hell, if you wanted shock and awe I'd _recommend_ her. But espionage? Subtlety?! 'Watson does insightful intelligence gathering in a low-stakes environment, but that investigative instinct is overpowered on the field. Without someone to reign her in, Watson is liable to lose sight of the larger picture.'" She held up her tablet. "That last part is from your mission-readiness report on Watson, not a month ago."

Fubuki shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She finally broke eye-contact, instead of focusing on the table in front of her. She spoke sheepishly, like a child in trouble.

"Aah, well, you see..." Fubuki briefly glanced up at A-chan, looking for sympathy and finding none. "Enma, Watson's handler, was pushing for her to get solo missions. I didn't think it was a good idea, but she kept insisting, so I made her a deal."

"You made a bet." She should have known it was something like that. Fubuki seemed to lose her keen eye the moment she saw dice. A-chan was certain most of the fox's paycheck went to the nearby casino. 

Fubuki giggled nervously before continuing her explanation. 

"I said that I'd give her a solo mission as a trial run. If it worked out, she could do more on a probationary basis. Aaaaaaaaaaand I may have just handed Enma the first paper on my desk." Fubuki audibly gulped before shaking her hands frantically. "Please don't be mad at me! I didn't mean to! I only realized after the mission had already happened. Besides, everything is perfectly fine! We learned about the scythe lady too, so really you should be thanking me."

A-chan opened her mouth to scold Fubuki, but she was beaten to it.

"Amelia got hurt because of your mistake. You need to accept responsibility for that." Ookami Mio looked at the fox, gently but sternly. "If not for Enma breaking the rules to send backup, she could have died." Fubuki nodded solemnly. It was probably for the best that Mio had said that instead of A-chan. Mio was technically the director of humanoid resources, positioned after human resources was found to be too exclusive a title. In practice, she served as an institutional peacemaker. As a result of the less transparent aspects of COVER, members never knew if a controversial decision was truly to their benefit or not. Mio served as a go-between. She was given access to information far above her actual clearance in return for helping to placate her colleagues. For anyone else, it wouldn't have worked, but the wolf was near-universally trusted to keep everyone's best interests at heart. 

Judging Fubuki's dour reaction, A-chan decided to set the matter aside for the moment. 

"Regardless of the circumstances, the bet happened. What was the penalty if Enma lost?"

Fubuki returned to a more neutral expression before answering.

"I just came up with something on the spot. I said that if she lost, Amelia would be put on your A-team, A-chan."

The A-team was simultaneously the idea A-chan was most proud of and the one she most regretted. Several of COVER's agents were recruited out of fear of what they'd do unattended. A lot of the time those safety-hires were fine with a desk job: Nekomata Okayu still hadn't realized her "work" was just the same tasks recycled bi-monthly. Some of them, however, demanded to work as an agent, either out of a sense of responsibility or sheer boredom. Those people got put on the A-team, where A-chan would carefully vet assignments for situations where collateral damage wasn't an issue. 

In theory, it was a brilliant solution. In practice, it was A-chan's hell. Finding missions was hard enough, but making sure everyone went out often enough to satisfy them was a logic-puzzle that kept her up at night. It had been too long since Pekora got to destroy something, so she needed to go, but would it less dangerous to send her with Aqua or Polka? Would sending Suisei somewhere with a crowd result in more or fewer casualties? How did she make sure Marine and Ollie never ever met under any circumstances? 

Despite all that, the implementation of the A-team had reduced unintentional coups by more than 80%, so it was a necessary torment. Watson was difficult, but she was nowhere near bad enough to justify being put on the A-team.

However...

As counterintuitive as it might seem, Watson could actually serve as a calming factor. If A-chan balanced it very, very carefully, she could use Watson as a check on the others. When she wasn't fighting, Waston was actually a thoughtful and cautious person. A-chan chose her next words very carefully.

"Well, since this mission was obviously a disaster, I'd say she lost the bet."

Fubuki tilted her head, confused, but Mio immediately realized where A-chan was going. 

"This entire mission shouldn't have happened," Mio argued. "Penalizing Amelia is entirely uncalled for!"

"While she shouldn't have had the mission, her actions during it were still unacceptable."

"We cannot make policy based on gambling!"

For the first time, the dragon spoke up. 

"I don't see why we can't," Coco said. "Since Watson's handler agreed to the terms, it was basically a skill assessment." Coco raised a finger to cut off Mio's interjection. "Yeah, it's weird, but what part of this clusterfuck isn't? The way I see it, there are no rules for this. We can deal with it pretty much how we want." 

A-chan was surprised to hear her director of intelligence come to her defense. To say A-chan and Kiryu Coco had an adversarial relationship would not be unjustified. Coco was far from a good person. She was the acknowledged head of the Japanese Yakuza and effectively ran the criminal underworld of several other nations on top of that. From drug trafficking to arms dealing, if something criminal was going on, Coco was at most a few degrees of separation away. If A-chan could, she'd have the dragon arrested. Unfortunately, Coco was also the only reason COVER could operate. Much of the international community's apathy towards the group was because of her connections. Coco's interest in keeping COVER afloat remained a mystery, but for now, she was irreplaceable. 

Mio seemed almost as surprised by the dragon's interruption as A-chan was.

"Why do you care about policy?" There wasn't any venom behind her words. Mio seemed genuinely curious. 

"Oh, no, I don't give a shit," Coco laughed. "I just don't see what the problem with is. A-team isn't a punishment after all. If it was, then what'd that say about the people on it?"

Mio seemed to waver.

"No, it obviously isn't that they're being punished or anything..."

Coco moved in for the killing blow.

"Then it's no problem! If she agreed to the game then she knew it might happen. Besides, technically we have to punish the girl's handler, but she didn't do anythin' wrong in saving what's-her-name."

"Amelia Watson."

"That one! So how about this? We cancel the bet since, well, Fubuki wasn't supposed to do that anyway. Then, we punish both Ameson and her handler by movin' her to A-team. That way, we don't play favorites, but we still do our jobs."

Mio muttered to herself for a moment before sighing.

"I still don't like it, but you're right. It's probably for the best."

A-chan leaned back in her chair, amazed. Coco had just sold COVER's unofficial mother on blatantly and arbitrarily screwing Watson over under the guise of being benevolent but fair. The dragon almost certainly did it just to give A-chan another headache, but it was still impressive.

Coco slouched down, feigning apathy. She subtly gestured at A-chan to move the meeting along before Mio thought too long about the plan.

"I'll send Enma the paperwork soon. Fubuki, Mio, your portion is done. We need to move on to intelligence matters."

The kemonomimi left the meeting room with opposing expressions. Fubuki had a nervous smile like she couldn't believe she'd talked her way out of trouble. Mio looked uncomfortable but was clearly trying to hide it. 

Coco stretched her arms over her head, faking a yawn. The stress put on her shirt by the gesture made A-chan wonder how much she paid her tailor. It clearly wasn't enough.

With the politicking over, the remaining attendees began paying attention. A-chan decided to cut right to the chase. 

"Rosenthal? You've read Botan's report. What did they see out there?"

Aki Rosenthal was an expert xenobiologist, cosmobiologist, mendacibiologist, and well versed in every other relevant subfield. When there was something COVER needed identified, Aki knew what it was. 

"I don't know what it is," Aki said bluntly. "I know it's almost certainly mythobiological, but beyond that..." She shrugged. 

A strange whirring sound brought everyone's attention to Roboco.

"Excuse me, but I'm not sure what a mythobiological creature is. Could someone please clarify?"

Roboco... well, A-chan wasn't really sure what Roboco's role was. The robot had been a part of COVER for so long she was critical to its infrastructure. Despite her importance, A-chan couldn't recall seeing Roboco ever actually _do_ anything. Most of the time Roboco simply wandered the halls of their facility, helping anyone who asked. A few months ago, an accident with a magnet had taken her offline for about a week. The world had nearly ended twice. Afterward, she'd gotten her own team of technicians. 

"Put _extremely_ simply," Aki began, "A mythobiological creature is something that exists because people expect it to. Different people have different theories as to why. I'm partial to the multiversal attraction hypothesis, but there are some fair criticisms of-"

"Akiiiii," Coco groaned. "You said you were putting it simply."

"I am," she huffed, "but fine. If you don't want to understand it, I'll skip that part. The point is that it's the embodiment of some concept. It might be abstract, like fear or nightmares, or it could just be a horror story too many people believed. With so many possibilities it's almost absurd to narrow it down beyond the obvious." Roboco nodded in understanding. A-chan swore she saw the robot's eyes spin around as she spoke. 

"If determining the nature of mythobiological creatures is so difficult, how did you identify this one?"

Aki nodded distinctly, excited that someone was following along. 

"I used the process of elimination. I tried to match the distinctive characteristics with similar properties in other supernatural creatures, but nothing fit. Based on what Botan saw, we have a baffling powerset. It displayed, at a minimum: teleportation, irrational senses, fear invocation, perception manipulation, and some sort of clairvoyance. If this came from someone other than Botan, I would think they made it up. All of these properties are incongruent."

Roboco finished the explanation.

"Instead of being unique properties, you believe each of these phenomena is a subset of an aspect. Since only mythobiological creatures can manifest aspects, it must be one." 

Aki had a bright smile. A-chan was willing to bet she'd be finding Roboco in Aki's lab a lot more often after this. 

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Coco said. "How do we kill it? I don't think a bomb will bother an idea."

"They can be hurt," Aki clarified, "but you can't kill it with brute force. It's an expression, not a person." 

A-chan had been silently absorbing the information but spoke up.

"That's what I brought you all here to figure out. What do we do about it? Letting R&D try to kill an idea is a recipe for disaster, but I don't see an alternative."

"Well I do," Coco said. "We don't fuck with the bird." A-chan glared at her, but the dragon only looked amused. "You read the same thing I did right? All Bloody Mary cared about was her girlfriend. Give her a file and let me keep lookin'. She's a big-titty goth with pink hair; somebody's noticed her. Until we know more, just treat it like the guppy you pretend you aren't stalkin'."

A-chan grit her teeth.

"The Atlantian is not under your purview," she hissed. Coco's grin only widened.

"Oh, we're gonna have a talk about that. But until then, don't do such a shitty job I notice. If you can let something like that walk around, surely a farm ninja won't matter." Roboco's eyes slid over to Coco. Without any head movement, the gesture was very unnerving.

"Farm ninja? I have understood most of your allusions, but not that one. Could you please clarify?"

"She had a scythe? They were used as improvised weapons by farmers in Japan when the government took their swords?" Coco groaned at the blank faces she saw. "They aren't all winners. My point is, if we leave the manifestation of death or whatever alone, it probably won't bother us."

Aki's eyes widened. She began muttering to herself almost too quickly to follow. 

"Death-it can't be that simple-no it isn't but the connection is there-the western horseman and the black death-maybe an arbiter or emissary? But if it's just personifying why is it so anthropomorphic?"

"Rosenthal?" A-chan called. Hearing her name seemed to snap Aki out of her thoughts.

"I'm still here." She shook her head before continuing. "Coco is probably right. It showed clear restraint when the phoenix was threatened. I doubt it will suddenly become violent."

"I agree with the proposal," Roboco added. 

A-chan nodded to herself. 

"Very well, we'll go with Aki's plan." A-chan ignored Coco's muttered protests. "Start a file on it and find out everything you can about similar cases. Meanwhile, Coco will look into the phoenix and past sightings. Don't do anything that could be seen as hostile; I don't want to find out how far that teleportation reaches." Receiving nods of varying enthusiasm from everyone, A-chan moved on.

"This was an emergency meeting, so I think that's everything."

Roboco shook her head.

"A petition was filled by Shirakami Fubuki earlier today requesting alterations to agents' standard equipment. She is requesting every agent be given specialized optical enhancers-"

"No, we are not giving everyone glasses."

* * *

Mori Calliope would not let her die. It was an oath she'd made long ago. Takanashi Kiara had saved Mori at her lowest point, and the reaper would never forget that. Even if it meant waiting ages for the damn bird to wake up. 

Calliope paced the bedroom anxiously. Kiara had died twice in rapid succession. The Rule of Three meant that each death would take longer to fix, but it was especially bad in this case. Her first injury was barely healed when she'd died the second time. What if the magic didn't remember to finish healing the first wound?

The reaper shook her head. No, that wasn't how it worked. Each time had more power behind it. If anything, she should be worried about overhealing. Was that possible? 

The faint glow of Kiara's body was the only light in the room. It didn't affect Calliope, but she hoped the same wasn't true for Kiara. She didn't want her phoenix to have to see the corpse in the corner. 

Mori double-checked the security of the room. The door was blocked by a large wooden dresser she'd turned over. The window curtains were drawn and this loser had lived alone. It would be a long time before anyone looked for him. 

Calliope gazed down at her phoenix lying peacefully on the bed. She couldn't fathom how anyone could be willing to hurt something so pure. Kiara had cried when she learned about the suffering of the humans. She willingly wore the chains of a human body just so she wouldn't hurt them herself. The bird was even running a fucking restaurant to get to know them better. 

The reaper clenched her fists. Kiara was too kind for this world, but that was the world's problem, not her's. Calliope wouldn't let it take that stupidly trusting smile away. A wasteland with Kiara was better than a paradise without her.

The phoenix's glow started to fade, the resurrection complete. Mori frowned. It had taken way, way too long. If the impact of the Rule of Three was increasing then-

Kiara let out a shrill scream. Calliope's thoughts were immediately abandoned as she rushed to her phoenix's side. 

"You're safe Kiara! I'm right here."

Orange hair flailed about wildly as Kiara struggled against an invisible attacker. Calliope grabbed her wrists, but that only scared her more. The wailing got louder as Kiara realized she didn't know where she was. Desperate, the reaper leaned down and slammed her forehead against Kiara's, so her face was the only thing she could see. 

"It's me, Kiara. You're safe, I promise you." Calliope tried to put as much reassurance as she could into her words. It had been a long time since Kiara had woken up this bad, but she couldn't let that fear show.

"Calli..?" Kiara's voice was weak and frail. As her eyes focused on Calliope, the reaper felt her own world shift. Like a camera had been adjusted, everything Calliope saw seemed to sharpen. 

Since she was leaning on top of Kiara, her pink hair had fallen forward, billowing out around Kiara's face. Mori could see the fear slowly drift to comfort as the phoenix remembered who she was. She swore she could see the purple in Kiara's eyes brighten. She felt each of the puffs from Kiara's lips, just inches from her own. Every second the rise and fall of Kiara's breath brought her chest just barely into contact with Calliope's.

Her treacherous mind was filled with fantasies. What if she pushed closer? What if she went farther? Kiara was a tactile person, she probably wouldn't mind. Maybe there was something to her phoenix's humorous flirting. If there was then could she hope?

"Are you ok?"

Calliope jerked back, letting go of Kiara. What the hell was wrong with her?!? Kiara had woken up terrified and here she was being a lecher. 

"Huh? Oh, yeah I'm fine. I should be asking you that, you almost died!"

Kiara laughed lightly. 

"Technically I did die. Twice even! But I got better." Calliope glared at her.

"I'm not letting you do that kusotori. You woke up screaming. You are not fine." The anger was helping her embarrassment fade, so the reaper was more than happy to feed it. "You said the restaurant was safe! It was just a hobby to kill a few years. Next thing I know, you've died twice in a fucking row and I have to come to save you. Some rando's soul is just gone now because I left him behind for you."

"You can't blame me for that Calli." Kiara's face was impossible to read. "I didn't leave that soul. I didn't kill whoever's house this is."

"You almost got _yourself_ killed! Four deaths back to back and you're gone. Why don't you understand that?!" Calliope's words were getting faster, her gestures more exaggerated. 

"I know Cal-"

"Then why do you do this shit?! I swear, I spend most of my time babysitting you. You're older than me, but you sure as hell don't act like it. We're gonna have to cancel the stupid burger thing, but you'll probably be safe overseas-"

"If you care so much, then why weren't you there?"

The air tightened. Everything became background noise to Calliope's own thoughts. She wasn't there. Kiara had suffered and Calliope wasn't there. Kiara, her Kiara, had cried out for help that wasn't there. She'd cried and cried until that blonde bitch shot her in the throat and Calliope. Wasn't. There. 

Apologies and excuses came at her but the reaper ignored them. Kiara had meant what she said and they both knew it. Mori wasn't good enough. Mori had no right to be with her. 

The reaper turned and walked into the shadows. She stepped out miles away, at the scene of another death. She heard a neck snap as someone kicked a chair out from under himself, but she ignored it. She heard his now freed soul scream in confusion and horror, but she ignored it. She heard him plead for help, but he wasn't Kiara, so she ignored it.

The reaper had work to do. Her phoenix would light up the night, even if Calliope had to burn the world for kindling. Maybe then she would finally see color. 

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was just supposed to be a short side-story to tie between Fire Investigation and what I want to do in this world next. A bit of behind-the-scenes politicking at COVER, some world-building, and a glimpse into what the Calliope in this setting was. I would make this to vent some of the creative juices and then finish the half-written inamesame angst. Then four thousand words happened. (Side note, why is creativity always a liquid? Personally, I see it more as a gas.) In hindsight, I should have realized I was juggling too much to do in my planned two thousand words, but I thought a conversation with six people would be easy. The past me was a fool. Originally, Moona was also going to be at the meeting, but with how crowded it was getting she got cast out. I'll introduce her role in the world some other time, preferably while I have a more controlled environment. I already cheated pretty aggressively in the meeting by having Aki and Roboco read files for the first half, but putting their introductions into the beginning makes it feel like a heist movie rollcall. I'm already frontloading a lot of these characters and I'm still not happy with how it flowed. The problem is that if each character bio doesn't come at least pretty soon after they speak, there's not a natural way to include it later.  
> And I do like those little backstories. Having small stories and highlights of what they do makes the world feel larger than just what's written down. At least I hope it does.  
> While we're talking about characters, I want to preempt something I might get in response to this. I am not character bashing anyone here. I love all of Hololive. The character descriptions here are double-filtered. First, they're tainted by the unreliable narrator. When the narration talks about someone's motives, it is what the perspective character perceives the motive to be. Also, this is a fanfic. That alone means we're taking serious liberties with the characters (kayfabe and all), but this is an AU on top of that; several aspects of lore are different here. I know to 99% of you this is obvious, but I've seen better writers than me run into this problem for far less egregious changes.  
> As for the second part of this story...  
> Would you believe me if I said it was originally going to be Takamori fluff? The plan was for Calli to tsun all over Kiara with maybe a couple hints of the rift between them. The original ending had Calli realizing she might care for Kiara as more than friends. The problem with that was Kiara. From her perspective, she had just been blindsided by a bullet from nowhere and then woke up to choking on her own throat. Even if I made it clear Kiara was pushing down the trauma (something I'd intended to do anyway), it just felt too jarring.  
> So after that first try, it became Takamori hurt/comfort. Everything through the accidental closeness was lifted pretty directly from this second draft. In version two, Calli would still berate Kiara, but Kiara would instead open up about the feeling of fear she had as she choked. I really like what I wrote for that description, and will probably use it later when Kiara gets a perspective.  
> Since what you read above very clearly isn't version two, you might be wondering why I decided to change it. Let me know if you find out, because I sure as hell don't know. As I was writing I decided to set up how Calli's tsunning would later cause the rift between Kiara and her but when I did I realized that this would actually be a great moment for it and then two hours had passed.  
> I had plans for a different event to separate the two, but that's out the window now. In fact, lots of my ideas went in the dumpster out back with all the underdeveloped isekais and the s̨̞̞̰͎͎̪̩͕̈́̀ͯ̍ͧͅm̰̰̹͚̙̂ͦ͗͠ụ̴̴̾̀͟͡t͖͖̠̬͛ I've blocked from my memory.  
> I could have just gone back to version two and saved myself loads of trouble, but I couldn't bring myself to. I think doing it here has more narrative weight and will make the resolution of the arc much smoother. Assuming I don't end up having to change that too.  
> Wow, even my endnotes are getting out of hand. I might have a problem.


End file.
